Talk

Donte Parks

Donte Parks is VP of Culture at Substantial, a digital development and design studio committed to building brilliant technology experiences. Founded in 2006, Substantial has worked with a variety of organizations, ranging from Fortune 100 corporations to non-profit startups to influential rappers. They pride themselves on speed to market, but temper that with a strong commitment to work-life balance and creating an invigorating, supportive work environment. To that end, they've ranked within the top 10 on both Seattle Met Magazine's Best Places to Work list and on Seattle Business Magazine's 100 Best Companies to Work For list.

Outside of the office, Donte is a mostly-retired music writer, former columnist for The Stranger, and general music nerd. He can often be found behind the turntables in Substantial HQ or his living room, DJing out in the world, or otherwise out and about consuming music (or food; he really likes food). He’s amenable to long walks on the beach but gets annoyed at getting sand between his toes. He disagrees with anyone that doesn’t consider West Side Story to be the best musical ever made. He also finds writing about himself in the third person to be a very strange exercise.

There has been no shortage of press in recent months on the topic of diversity in tech. While these articles have done a fair job of illuminating specific issues and the problem in general, in most cases they have not provided insight into how we can actually work to solve the problem(s). At Substantial, we started the year by announcing Spectrum, a year-long initiative focused on making it not only a more inclusive workplace, but an advocate for diversity in tech in the community at large. It's been a few months of learnings and increasing awareness, and we're ready to share what we've done so far. It's still very early in the initiative, but there are already some lessons that we can share, useful for both organizations and individuals, both those in decision-making capacity and not. Wanting to solve the problem is the first step, but let's turn those intentions into action.

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AlterConf is a traveling conference series that provides safe opportunities for marginalized people and those who support them in the tech and gaming industries.